Fluid coupling



May 27, 1947. B. A. SWENNES FLUID COUPLING Filed April 5, 1941 2Sheets-Sheet l mm N fizz/672 327? jezy'czrn 1'72, 8. 52067272 65 \N M MNMay 27, 1947. B. A. SWENNES FLUID COUPLING 'Filed April 5, 1941 7 2Sheets-Sheet 2 jezyfanzira (25206717165 Patented May 27, 1947 FLUIDCOUPLING Benjamin A. Swennes, Rockford, 111., assignor to Borg-WarnerCorporation, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Application April5, 1941, Serial No. 387,016

3 Claims. 1

This invention relates to hydraulic power transmitting devices such asfluid couplings.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a fluid couplingwhich is economical to manufacture, and which will introduce the leastamount of obstructions to the flow of fluid, thereby providin maximumefiiclency.

A fluid coupling commonly comprises a pair of opposed outer shells witheach shellhaving disposed therein a series of spaced radially extendingvanes, and it is an object of my invention to provide an improved vaneconstruction whereby the vanes may be easily assembled in their properpositions in the shells and without the use of holding fixtures, ifdesired. Each outer shell of a fluid coupling may have disposed thereinan inner core section and it is a further object of my invention toprovide an improved vane construction wherei the vane forming memberswhen in assembled relation in a shell also form the'inner core sectionin the shell. More particularly, it is an object of my invention toprovide an improved vane construction whereby the vanes and irmer coresection are :formed by members which each form two adjacent vanes or atleast a portion of each of the adjacent vanes and the portion of thecore section between thetwo vanes.

It is another object of my invention to provide a fluid couplingconstructed such that it may be easily disassembled to allow the parts.of the coupling which tend to wear onrotation of the drivin and drivenportions of the coupling relative to each other to be replaced and inparticular to allow replacement of the seal which normally holds thefluid in the coupling and parts in contact therewith which rotaterelative thereto on relative rotation of the driving and driven portionsof the coupling.

These and other objects and features of the invention will becomeapparent from the following description when considered with theaccompanying drawings. The several figures comprise:

Fig. 1 showing a fragmentary elevation of an assembled shell and vane ofthe novel fluid coupling;

Fig. 2 showing a side elevation in section of a complete couplingincorporating a view of the shell and vane taken along lines 2-2 of Fig.1;

Fig. 3' showing a blank from which a pair of vanes and a core sectionare formed; 7

Fig. 4 showing the completely formed doublevaned section;

Fig. 5 showing a group of double-vaned sections united to form a sectorof vanes; and

Figs. 6 and '7 showing respectively front and side elevations in sectionof a shell into which the vanes fit.

Referring now to the drawings for a detailed decription of theinvention, the fluid coupling is comprised of two opposed shells Illforming a torus, each shell having therein a series of radiallyextending vanes II bounded on one side by shell I!) and on the other bya core ring shell l2. Each shell is attached respectively to a drivingshaft l8 and to a driven shaft 3|, with a fluidtight casing surroundingthe coupling and with the coupling slightly less than completely filledwith suitable fluid, all as hereinafter described.

The method by which the coupling is formed is as follows:

Each vane H is comprised of two thicknesses of metal having the shapeshown in Fig. 4. These vanes are formed as units by stamping sheet metalinto a blank having the shape shown in Fig. 3. Th blank is comprised oftwosymmetrical crescent-sh ped portions l3 and I having curved edges I5and l6. deiining respectively the outer and inner boundaries of thefluid circuit, and a substantially trapezoidal central section ll whichis joined at its corners to crescent-shaped sections l3 and It. In thenext operation, the blank is placed in a punch press and thecrescent-shaped sections l3 and I! are bent backward as shown in Fig. 4,so as to coincide with radial planes of the finished coupling. Centralsection I1 is then curved toward the sections until it abuts edge l6 0!each vane. The resulting unit is a U-shaped sector of the fluid couplingcontaining two spaced half thickness of vanes lying in radial planes,each unit being sufliciently rigid to hold the spacing between vanes andto withstand subsequent handling without deformation.

Suitable half toroidal sections [0 such as shown in Figs. 6 and '7 arethen formed to constitute the outer shells of the fluid coupling halves.This does not involve any new principles of operation and can beaccomplished in any proper sized press.

Next the vanes are assembled in the shell. This may be done byrare-assembling sections as shown in Fig. 5, the sections comprisinggroups of units such as shown in Fig. 4 which have been secured togethereither by means of a fixture or by a preliminary welding action. If thegroup has already been welded, then it is merely placed into a shellalong with enough other groups to completely fill the shell, and theentire assembly may then be united, preferably by a hydrogen brazingprocess, to form a unitary whole. Alternatively, the shell may be filledwith individual units which have not been united into groups, and afterthe individual units are properly located within the shell with respectto one another so as to form a uniform and symmetrical structure, thewhole is then hydrogen-brazed into an integral unit. Each U-shapedsector comprises a core ring shell section which is an even divisor ofthe complete core ring shell l2, and when the sectors are assembled inthe half toroidal shells ill, the U- shaped sectors completely fill theshells l0,

Since each double-vaned unit will hold its shape, it is unnecessary touse holding fixtures to maintain the vanes in their proper relation withrespect to the shell while the brazing process is being conducted. Eachunit is so formed originally that when the proper number is assembled,

the entire shell will be completely filled and each Thus, it isunnecessary-to have more vanes on one member than on the other as iscustomarily done, and, the same unit may be used interchangeably for thedriving half or the driven half, l

The hydrogen brazing process is a well known process and will not bedescribed here indetail. It will sufiice to state that the processcomprises placing copper or a suitable copper alloy along the joint tobe welded and then heating the copper in a hydrogen atmosphere until itflows into the joint and forms a firm bond. In the case of the fiuidcoupling, after the vanes are in place and the copper is laid along thejoint, the coupling halves are passed through a furnace where they areheated until the bond is formed.

It will be noted that it is unnecessary to pierce the shell in order tosecure the vanes thereto and accordingly it is possible to omit a shroudfor the driving vanes and to secure the shell of the driving section tothe flywheel by attaching it therea to around the outer periphery of theshell.

The completely, assembled coupling is shown in Fig, 1. The drive shaftI8 is bolted to a casting 19 towhich is welded ahousing 20, whichencloses the'driving half 2| and driven half 22 of the coupling. Drivinhalf 2| is welded to a flange 23, which in turn is bolted to housing 23,andserves to transmit the drive from the housing to the driving half.

Casting i9 is formed with a shoulder 24 against which abuts a bearing25, the latter being held in place by a snap ring 26. Said bearingsupports and positions, a hub 21 to which is riveted a flange 28 weldedto driven half 22. Hub 2'! has internal splines 29 engaging splines 30on a driven shaft 3|, said splines 30 having a shoulder 32 which abutsthe end of hub2l. Thus, forward thrusts from driven shaft 3| are takenon shoulder 32-and transmitted to hearing 25. Thrusts in the oppositedirection are taken by a snap ring 33, which bears against a curvednotch' 34 in splines 30. ,To remove shaft 3| from the coupling all thatis required is a light rearward biow on shaft 3| orsome associated part.7

Also secured to housing 20 is a plate 35 which serves as an abutment fora seal 36 of awellknown bellows type. It will be noted that seal 36bears against a hardened ring 31, which is threaded on hub 21 and may bereplaced when worn without replacing the entire hub. Furthermore, plate35 is of such size that when it is removed, and seal 38 is withdrawnwith it, ring 31 can be 4 easily reached and removed without furtherdisassembling the coupling.

It is understood that the foregoing description is merely illustrativeof a preferred embodiment of the invention, and that the scope of theinvention, therefore, is not to be limited thereto, but is to bedetermined by the appended claims.

I claim: a

A fluid coupling member comprising an annular shell, an annular coreshell inside and spaced from said first named shell and a plurality ofspaced radial vanes inside said first named shell and extending betweenthe two shells, said core shell and said vanes being formed by aplurality 0f-elements,.each of said elements comprising a section of thecore shell and a pair of spaced vanes integral with the core shellsection,

said elements being disposed in contact with each other side by side insaid first named shell.

2. A fluid coupling member comprising an annular shell, an annular coreshell inside and spaced from said first named shell and a plurality ofspaced radial vanes inside said first named shell and extending betweenthe two shells, said core shell and said vanes being formed by aplurality of elements, each of said elements comprising a section of thecore shell and a pair of spaced vane portions integral with the cornerregions of the core shell section, said elements being disposed in saidfirst named shell side by side with two adjacent vane portions of theelements being in face to face contact and together forming a singlevane extending between the shells. I

3. A fluid coupling member comprising a substantially semi-toroidalshell, a substantially semi-toroidal'core shell inside and spaced fromsaid first named shell and a plurality of spaced radial vanes insidesaid first named shell and extending between. the two shells, said coreshell and said vanes being formed by a plurality of elements, each ofsaid elements comprising asection of the core shell and a pair ofspacedvanes integral withthe core shell section, said elements being securedin said shell in position side by side and in contact with each other,each of said elements being adapted to be self-supporting when placedindividually in the shell with its core section in position to form apart of the complete core shell before being secured therein, whereby tofacilitate securing the elements in the shell.

BENJAMIN A. SWENNES.

REFERENCES CITED 7 The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED sTaTEs PATENTS Great Britain 1907

